[Qgis-developer] Get rid of Shapefiles ! Go SpatiaLite !

[Stefan Keller]

Hi Michael

+1 from my part.

To me Spatialie is "the shapefile of the future" since 2010 (see e.g. FOSS4G)

Yours, Stefan


2012/11/26 Pēteris Brūns <pb at sungis.lv>:
> Hi,
> +1
> This direction from my view is more correct course of action - make the use
> of spatialite more easy and ergonomic for users as it is now and in case of
> success it will be used more and more.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> On 2012.11.26. 18:35, kimaidou wrote:
>
> Hi again
>
> I am coming back after more thinking :). I changed the subject into Go
> Spatialite !
>
> List of modifications which would help to use spatialite instead of
> Shapefile as the default format :
>
> * Create a new vector layer : should allow to choose between shapefile and
> Spatialite. Let the use choose an existing spatialite connection or easily
> create a new spatialite file and connection, and create a new table there.
> * Tab fields, if the layer provider is spatialite :
>  - add the ability to delete columns : currently it is not possible
>  - add the ability to rename a column with the appropriate SQL command
> - add the ability to change the type of a column when it is possible
>
> * Tab General
>  - add the ability to create/remove a spatial index for spatialite tables,
> as QSpatialite does
>
> * FTools and another vector processing tools :
>  - add the ability to choose between shapefile and spatialite to create the
> processed layers.
>
> I think it would be a big break for QGIS if we facilitate more the use of
> spatialite. I know it is already possible to achieve many things with
> DBManager or QSpatialite, but we could help the users by letting them edit
> spatialite tables without a dedicated tool.
>
> Cheers
>
> Michael
>
>
> 2012/11/26 kimaidou <kimaidou at gmail.com>
>>
>> Hi Yves,
>>
>> I totally agree with you and Bary on the superiority of spatialite VS
>> GeoJson considering performance, geoprocessing methods, capabilities, etc.
>> But I am still not sure beginner would be comfortable enough using Sqlite
>> to replace Shapefiles. I think they will be more comfortable with the idea
>> to keep the one layer / one file architecture. They can off course use one
>> sqlite file containing only one layer, so this question could be answered.
>>
>> But still, I think users should be able to use the "Field" tab of the
>> layer properties dialog to easily edit the layer structure, not another
>> dedicated tool in another QGIS menu (or plugin)
>> We could probably find a way to use the tools of the Fields tab to modify
>> the structure of the related sqlite table. This would help a lot people to
>> use more the spatialite format, no ?
>>
>> I need more thinking :)
>>
>> Thanks all for your comments
>>
>>
>> 2012/11/26 Yves Jacolin (Free) <yjacolin at free.fr>
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I agreed with all you said, I am sure Spatialite format is the future of
>>> Geo"file" format:
>>> * easy to share (one file)
>>> * easy to use, edit
>>> * a lot of better capabities than Shapefile
>>> * use same OGC Standard as PostGIS does
>>>
>>> Y.
>>> Le lundi 26 novembre 2012 15:35:24 Barry Rowlingson a écrit :
>>> > [apologies for empty previous message, I blame google for putting
>>> > [...] next to 'Send'. This message has real content:
>>> >
>>> > On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 3:12 PM, kimaidou <kimaidou at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > > Hi list,
>>> > >
>>> > > The subject is a bit polemical, on purpose. I am used to playing with
>>> > > Postgis, spatialite and GeoJson, which are all open-source ways to
>>> > > store
>>> > > spatial data.
>>> > >
>>> > > I am very frustrated by the limitations of the Shapefile format, and
>>> > > much
>>> > > more by the quasi obligation to use it as the default vector format
>>> > > in
>>> > > QGIS. I mean for non power users who do not use PostGIS or
>>> > > spatialite.
>>> >
>>> >  Why is spatialite seen as a "power user" option when ESRI users have
>>> > been using something similar for years? Its just a file, you connect
>>> > to it, you add spatial data to it.
>>> >
>>> >  GeoJSON is always going to be pretty verbose unless you gzip it - I
>>> > wouldn't want to use it for anything too big.
>>> >
>>> > Barry
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Qgis-developer mailing list
>>> > Qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
>>> > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
>>
>>
>
>
>
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> --
> Pēteris Brūns
> SunGIS
> +371 26336691
> pb at sungis.lv
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